Technical Abstract:
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing remains an important tool as investigators devise ways to arrest the development of antimicrobial resistance, particularly in food borne bacteria. In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System - Enteric Bacteria (NARMS) to prospectively monitor changes in antimicrobial susceptibilities of zoonotic pathogens from human and animal diagnostic specimens, from healthy farm animals, and from raw product collected from federally inspected slaughter and processing plants. Non-typhoid Salmonella was selected as the sentinel organism. Isolates recovered from humans, food animals and retails meats are included in the program. The animal arm of NARMS resides at the USDA-ARS laboratory in Athens, GA while the human arm resides at the CDC in Atlanta, GA and the retail arm resides at the FDA-OR in Laurel, MD. Careful analysis of data is warranted as antimicrobial resistance varies between and within the different serotypes of Salmonella. Use of the information will be targeted to redirecting drug use to diminish the development and spread of resistance.